MLB Gambling Preview: Arizona Diamondbacks at Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals (14-8) return home from a six-game road trip losers of four straight. The Nats still hold a slim lead in the NL East, but laying this price with a struggling offense can be risky. The Nationals scoring struggles are evident with 0, 3, 2, and 1 runs their last four games while hitting just .180. Over their last 11 games, the Nationals have averaged just 2.63 runs per game.

Don’t expect much offense from the Nationals against Arizona’s Trevor Cahill. Following two seasons of success pitching for Oakland, the big right-hander is pitching well with a .221 BAA that includes a pair of solid performances on the road. Cahill shut down both San Diego and Colorado in two road starts allowing just two runs and six hits in 13 innings. He has a solid ground ball profile and throwing at pitcher-friendly Nationals Park against a struggling lineup should serve him well again. Read more

Bookie finds happiness flying under the radar in the U.S.

An anonymous bookie talks about how he's found a comfort zone living in America and doing business the old school way.

Life is too short. So I’m onshore and offline. Any trouble I’m going to get from the Law is going to be local. If caught, I’ll spend some time doing graffiti removal or cleaning up a park. I’ll sleep in my own bed.

I don’t need 16 hours a day in front of a computer screen trying to move my numbers faster than internet wiseguys can pick me off. I don’t need to try to figure out Costa Rica’s ever changing tax code. (When I left, sports books were charged, among other things, $1000 per computer monitor on the premises, per year.) I don’t need to court the DOJ’s wrath.

Poker legend Amarillo Slim dies at 83

Poker legend Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston passed away at the age of 83 on Sunday. He won the World Series of Poker main event in 1972 and was also noted for having played against Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Pablo Escobar, and Larry Flynt.

“Slim used his name and face to promote poker in a way it had never been done before, and without Amarillo Slim, the poker world would likely not exist in the way we know it today,” Poker Player News said in its obituary.

NBA Playoff Gambling: New York Knicks haven't won a postseason game since 2001

Last night's loss to Miami marked the 12th straight postseason defeat for the New York Knicks dating back to 2001. In their defense, they were only favored twice during that stretch. They'll be an underdog again on Thursday after opening +5.5 vs. Miami.

NBA Handicapping: Karl calls out Lakers for playing illegal defense

After being held to 36% shooting and 88 points, Denver head coach George Karl was quick to note that the Lakers played plenty illegal defense in Game 1's blowout loss. Perhaps some frustration after his team had 15 of their shots blocked, including 10 courtesy of Andrew Bynum.

"He was playing nice illegal defense," Karl told reporters, including the Denver Post's Benjamin Hochman. "He was zoned up good. I think we got one illegal defense [call] — I saw about 30."

MLB Handicapping: Pittsburgh's Morton shows improvement vs. lefties

The book on Pittsburgh's Charlie Morton has always been that he can't get lefties out. Last season, they hit .364 BA/.806 OPS against the righty. The year before that; .329 BA/.840 OPS. This year, though the sample is small (48 batters faced), Morton has dramatically improved his numbers (.227 BA/.582 OPS). According to this article, Morton made some pitch selection adjustments that have helped. Also note Morton's solid groundball-to-fly ball ratio (39-10). Expect tonight's opponent St. Louis to have at least five lefties in the lineup.

"He's starting to do all of it a little better," Hurdle said. "Even though it's a small sample size, we're looking for improvement. He's looking for improvement. He's gotten some."

Free MLB Betting Pick: Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves

Last season, Atlanta's offense struggled mightedly against left-handed pitching and those numbers are starting to show up again (.238 vs. LH starters) this season despite the fact that they have yet to face a premium southpaw arm. And when it comes to "premium" in the National League names like Clayton Kershaw, Cliff Lee, and tonight's opponent, Cole Hamels, come to mind. Hamels is once again dialed in this season with a 2.73 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. For Atlanta, Brandon Beachy will look to maintain his stellar start to the season (1.05 ERA, 0.97 WHIP). Obviously those numbers can't be maintained, but his talent is hardly a fluke after posting 169 strikeouts in 141.2 innings last season. He'll face a Philadelphia offense that has really struggled to produce runs. They've picked it up of late (4.71 runs per game last 7 games) but they certainly benefited from facing some weak starting pitchers (Josh Read more

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Boston's Rajon Rondo has been suspended one game for bumping an official. Head coach Doc Rivers also said he didn't expect Ray Allen (ankle) to be able to go for Game 2. Atlanta leads the series 1-0 and opened a 3.5-point favorite with a total of 174 for Tuesday's contest.

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MLB Betting News: Starting pitching now a major concern for New York Yankees

It doesn't seem too long ago that one of the New York Yankees' strengths this season was projected to be their starting pitching. Now, it may be their biggest concern – especially the back end of the rotation. CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova have for the most part done their job – the Yankees are 8-4 in their starts. But beyond those three arms is where it gets interesting. Phil Hughes (7.87 ERA) is once again a disaster but lucky for him Freddy Garcia's "effort" has deflected some of the criticism. Garcia (12.51 ERA) has now been demoted to the bullpen and rookie reliever David Phelps will start on Thursday in Kansas City. Andy Pettitte is getting decent reviews while working back into shape in the minors though his ETA has been Read more

MLB Gambling News: Texas' Darvish a -140 road favorite vs. Toronto

Since a shaky first inning against Seattle in his debut, Texas' Yu Darvish has lived up the hype with just three earned runs allowed in his last 25 innings. He's used a variety of pitches and speeds and has amazingly yet to allow a home run. We'll see how he fares tonight as a medium-sized road favorite after a very intense 119-pitch, 8.1 IP shutout against the Yankees.

NBA Playoff Gambling: Recapping a wild weekend

The NBA regular season was rather lackluster. TV ratings were mediocre at best and there was a legitimate absence of compelling story lines to draw casual fans into the fray. And frankly, the condensed, lockout shortened season left a lot to be desired from a visual perspective – there was no shortage of ugly basketball games between Christmas and the last week of April.

But the opening weekend of the playoffs was an absolute masterpiece of compelling story lines and intense basketball. All eight Game 1’s gave us something to think about, write about and consider as playoff action heats up this week.

The weekend started with a blowout as Chicago thrashed Philly, leading by 20 in the fourth quarter before a late Sixers rally cut the final margin of victory to 12. The Bulls simply overwhelmed the 76ers for most of the game, dominating the low post defensively while breaking down Philadelphia’s defense, creating high percentage shot attempts on the other end of the floor. But the entire complexion of the series – and the playoffs as a whole – changed rather dramatically late in the fourth when Chicago’s star point guard Derrick Read more

NBA Handicapping: What Derrick Rose's injury means to the poinspread

Sportsmemo handicapper Erin Rynning was featured in Chad Millman's blog today. Rynning gave the scoop on Derrick Rose's injury and the impact it will have from a betting perspective.

On Sunday afternoon, I emailed Erin Rynning, the NBA handicapper I speak to often, with this question: "Do you think there will be value on the Bulls because of overreaction?"

His response: "Yes, I'll look to move that way. I love overreaction by the media/oddsmakers!!!" (The exclamation points are his. It's also worth pointing out that in my podcast with Rynning last week, he commented that the Bulls were looking gassed and his one criticism of them is that Tom Thibodeau didn't seem to rest anyone when he had the chance. Too true.)

"You're really reacting to how the team reacts at this point," says Rynning. "They're very well coached with what is a bunch of team guys, so they should be fine to an extent … like to an extent that is good enough to beat Philly."

Five earned runs and 10 hits allowed in 5.1 innings isn't much to get excited about but for Boston Clay Buchholz, it was a step in the right direction. Last time out against Minnesota, Buchholz felt that his command was much improved compared to his first three starts. He’s allowed 22 earned runs in 22.1 innings this season.

"It's a struggle when you're throwing pitches and guys put the ball in play -- it's either in the infield or outfield and nobody is standing there," Buchholz said. "That's the way it goes. It's got to change. It can't stay that way all year.

"Clay was very much improved," manager Bobby Valentine said. "He scattered singles around the ballpark until [Denard Span's] double. He kept the ball down much better. And he had a very good

MLB Betting Notes: Arizona calls up rookie lefty to face Miami

Arizona has been forced to juggle its pitching rotation due to the injury of Daniel Hudson and demotion of Josh Collmenter (now in the bullpen). The D-backs have two highly regarded prospects in Trevor Bauer and Tyler Skaggs but decided instead to call up lefty Pat Corbin for today's start in Miami. Corbin has put up great numbers at Double-A (1.67 ERA, 25 Ks in 27 IP) thus far. The reason for move appears to be situational with the Marlins really struggling against left-handed pitching (.169 BA, .212 OBP, .531 OPS).

"He probably pitched as well as anybody we have in camp this year and followed it up with a good start to his Double-A season," Towers said.

Heavy betting action expected on Manchester United vs. Manchester City

One of the biggest English Premier League matches in history goes this afternoon with Manchester United an underdog to Manchester City. City currently trails United by three points in the EPL standings.

Pinnacle OddsManchester United +273
Manchester City +114
Draw +250
Total Under 2.5

"We are fully expecting this to be the busiest match, in terms of bets placed, in the history of the Premier League," said Joe Crilly, a spokesman for William Hill, the U.K.'s largest bookmaker, which predicts that up to 8,000 wagers will be placed on the game in the hour before kick-off.

NBA Gambling: Los Angeles Clippers were at one point +22.5 live wagering

Down by as much as 27 points in the third quarter, the Los Angeles Clippers rallied back to beat the Memphis Grizzlies last night. Things were so out of hand that Pinnacle, known for offering live wagering on virtually every televised event, stopped posting a moneyline during timeouts. According to Sports Options' line history archive, the highest moneyline offered on the Clippers was +1026 (+14.5 was the pointspread at that exact time). LA's pointspread progressions was +22.5, +15, +11, +4, pk (+185), and pk (-180).

“At the end of the third quarter Coach took me out and I went nuts,” Paul said. “I said, 'Coach give us a chance! Give us a chance!' He puts us back in there and [Eric] Bledsoe got going, Nick Young was amazing and Reggie Evans gets the game ball, he was unreal.”

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